It's All Coming Back to Me
by DarkPriestessOfHyrule
Summary: "I hate you husband. I hate and loath you without condition you treacherous cur, yet it has always been you. Of those who sought my hand, I saw none holding it but you." The Queen looked unguarded into his eyes for the first time since she could remember.


**A/N: Hello my loves, seems I was feeling a little sentimental and decided to write this as a response. Aside from Atheares this is now my favorite ship in Greek Mythology. People are adoring Hera in my IV and I just want to write more for her. I wonder if I should have tried modern tone to help you understand the last part better, but I'm used to writing in this possibly inaccurate archaic style. The title is based off Celine Dion's song of the same name. *sighs* I love that song. I hope you guys like this since it is the first thing I've bothered to finish in awhile.**

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Hera awoke as usual to a cold bed. It had been warm where she slept, but it only took one turn from her unmoving position to send a chill up her body. The smell of perfumed incense that permeated the room made her ill as she laid in her chambers looking up at the darkened ceiling. The weight of air that held onto her senses eventually made her roll out of bed and put on a simple gown. No longer able to be in the stifling chambers, the goddess left the palace hoping to find solace in the chilled air of high Mount Olympus. She had traversed her way through the golden roads of the large courtyard and to the garden's very edge where she saw her husband sitting with his back to her. He starred down from the sky to earth, awake and yet again away from her. It had happened so often that the goddess had let her feet carry her of their own hopeful volition to see him where he always stayed when he returned to his kingdom. If Zeus had not left the heavens to lay with the mortals, he came to the furthest reaches of their home to mourn those who were unable to lay with him again.

"Who do you weep for this time husband? Was it one I cut down, or did your own folly do it for you?" The queen asked softly feeling the chill of night through her thin gown.

"You look tired wife, you should sleep." Zeus replied, though he had not once turned back to see her.

"I could sleep ten thousand years and it would not cure the weariness that comes with constantly fighting a losing battle. I do not deny this, I riled against it as our father did against his chains, yet even he realizes the futility of trying to shatter Tartarus itself. I will never be good enough to sate you. There will always be another mortal that will catch your eye, always another secret tryst." She said, her voice laced with the weariness that showed in darkened circles beneath her eyes. "I yield husband."

"Yield?" Zeus asked in confusion.

"Yes, yield. I give in to the inevitable. You can glutton yourself with your affairs to your content now, I yield." Hera wrapped her arms around herself bowing her head.

This got his attention quickly and he turned to see his wife with widening eyes. She did not return his gaze however, and he saw that the once vibrant goddess appeared to have aged with fatigue and stress. How had he not noticed how greatly she had aged? When they fought, her face was indistinguishable, twisted into a snarl with her eyes blazing, yet now she looked weary and her glowing eyes were dull. Zeus found himself utterly speechless. _No...No...it cannot be._ The thought chanted and he felt his heart drop in his chest. He had broken her. The firey goddess who he made burn with anger and desire had finally buckled under the weight of his affairs.

"Did you honestly think that I would remain some beautiful skipping naïve nymph for all time? That girl whom you flattered to your bed and loved for three hundred years is no more."

"But I still love you-" the king began only to have her let out a bark of laughter.

"Love is not empty words and a cold bed, husband. Were I not so sure you would kill any who gave me a second glance and punish me without mercy, I would invite a man into my bed. It would not be for love, not even for him to touch me once, but to feel the weight of someone beside me whom I would imagine was you!" She snarled with her raised voice as tears trailed down her alabaster cheeks. He tried to approach her, but she instantly pulled back out of his reach and dashed the tears from her eyes with a swipe of her hand. "I'm not an insatiable woman, you need not touch me enough to tire yourself of it. Despite that, It has always been a riddle to me why it is that I am without you, but must see you parade yourself with every damned man, woman, and child of the mortal race. All are welcome into your arms, I however, who am supposed to be first and only receives the very last of what you have to offer."

"Please, Hera..my queen-"

"I really am _yours_ Zeus, am I not? I am nothing but a beautiful jewel for the crown on your head. Why do you not simply have a whole plethora of queens to fill you with wealth enough for Aidoneus to envy you?"

"I do not desire a plethora."

"Truly? Then what shall we name them? Perhaps concubines, so plentiful that they would fill a harem large enough to lose yourself in." The goddess riled, angry and saddened that it could not be as it was before he had become bored of receiving just her love.

"I DO NOT DESIRE THAT!" He bellowed.

"THEN WHAT DO YOU DESIRE?!"

"YOU! YOU ARE WHO I DESIRE ABOVE ALL OTHERS!"

"I am delighted to know I have a bit more standing to quench your desire than your cup bearer." Hera sneered, though she could not hope to appear cruel as the goddess always had while continuing to choke back sobs behind clenched teeth.

"You put added thoughts into my mouth Hera. Stay still and listen to my true words." Zeus attempted once again without success to reach for her, continuing his pursuit until the woman unknowingly backed herself into a wall. She hit the stone hard, feeling her knees buckle against her will only to have Zeus catch the goddess in his arms and hold her closely against him.

"If you have at least a grain of sand's worth of mercy you would release me." Hera practically begged. "Unhand me please, do not torture me with your touch. Go touch another and refrain from leaving me with its lingering sensation for the night." She struggled to pull free, both palms against his chest as she tried to push him away. "Please release me." She whispered in a broken voice as she felt the last of her strength leave her. Her husband wrapped his arms tighter around her, their bodies fit perfectly together as he buried his face in her neck, his lips pressed against the strands of golden blonde hair that fell unadorned to her shoulders.

"I am weak Hera. I who am king of all gods, my graven image made of strength in the stone itself am as weak as a squalling babe. I am selfish, for it gave me joy to be flattered by your rage at my betrayal. However, I was angered when you so forcefully stole affections only to never return them when I came to your bed."

"Why would I lay with a man who only seeks my love when there are none nearby to satisfy him?" Hera labored in vain to break free, the feeling of being so close after so long alone was consuming her. She did not want him to have her with such ease because she was lonely. Such manipulation! None may see her, so she would come eagerly to his calling if only to feel something.

"I held on to the foolish assumption that you would always be steadfast and that we might always continue this power struggle that gave me such entertainment. Now seeing your eyes I realize that you are not my foe. I should not have treated you as if you were- as if you were a puzzle that I would feel prideful to conquer. I contested with your patience yet I let none near you, for only I was to have you. No other god or man was deserving of your beauty and desirable caresses...not even I." he hung his head unable to look at the woman who he was seeing yet again for the first time in millennias.

"I do not think you could ever comprehend how long and how many times I have dreamt of those words leaving your tongue and being given to me. I would whisper them when I lay alone and hear those words in your voice when I said them. They are not what I dreamt though. There is no declaration of your eternal love and loyalty, it is not day, and there are no cherry blossoms falling from the sky. It is cold, dark, and you hold me because you do not want me to leave."

"You are correct, I do not ever want you to leave. Now I am fearful as I would be if father had broken free that you will finally depart from me and that no faux marriage would bring you back with a smile." Zeus bit his tongue worried his words would run away with him and would mindlessly babble useless nothings if left unchecked. It was true, now he could feel his heart racing, his breath hitch as if waiting with dread for her final words before she left on her chariot beneath Selene with such speed that even Helios would never find her when he awoke.

"I hate you husband. I hate and loath you without condition you treacherous cur, yet it has always been you. Of those who sought my hand, I saw none holding it but you." The Queen looked unguarded into his eyes for the first time since she could remember.

He had not hesitated in that moment to tilt her head up with two fingers and pressed his lips softly against hers in gentle kiss. One of his hands moved to cup her cheek, feeling renewed tears fall from her eyes which he gently brushed away. When she did not resist the god deepened the slow kiss, feeling an ache because in that moment the lips of his wife were motionless. Zeus held her now more tenderly than he had any other lover or wife before her. He cherished her most, and although he may have sullied himself with others who were not her, none would ever be held this way. Only her. The king's strong arm encircled her waist, his palm laid gently on her thinly garbed back pressing her against him so that she might never pull away again. From their closeness two different streams of tears mingled, making their embrace taste of sadness and of the sweet lotus blossoms that she would drown her beautiful hair in. Like her immortal soul, even the weeping tears she shed would join with none but his own.

Hera feeling complete in that moment, wrapped in arms of her love with a closeness that none but him had shared with her, returned the kiss. The moments of such tenderness continued until she felt his tears drop to her collarbone breaking her resolve to loath the immortal who stole her heart. It was then that the queen wrapped her arms around him and gave in to her surrender of knowing that despite her hatred of his betrayal, she would not be able to continue her existence without him. When the need to breathe overpowered her hunger to never be released from his kiss, she pulled away grasping his tunic tightly with both hand. The goddess was trembling, her hands shaking as she remained within arms reach, and held his garbs as if releasing them would pull him back like the fleeting spirit of Eurydice who Orpheus had beheld in his love before she was free of the Underworld. Her shoulders shook as she looked up with desperate eyes that were blurred by tears. "Why me? Why above all others who are fairer did you choose me?"

"Because, it has always been you." Zeus looked at her with benevolence, almost seeking to further embrace her with his gaze alone before pulling her back within his arms, vowing silently as she held tightly to him that all his divine strength would ensure that she never shed another tear again.

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 **A/N: I hoped this warmed you up a bit, I haven't really tried anything with this much feeling in it. Oh I want them to be together so much, but Zeus is just so...un-redeeming. I had the most difficult time with him trying to justify himself. No lie I was at the computer and let out an annoyed growl saying "How am I supposed to justify Zeus being a cheating...dick?" I hated Zeus maybe until I started reading fanfiction here and now I just want him to be all hers. Hera might be downright evil to innocent people, but I wouldn't be very nice either if I was in her shoes. Anyways, if this doesn't sate your Zeus/Hera cravings and you want some stuff where Zeus is actually wicked good, I would highly suggest 'Amele Lethe' by Noelerin. I just hope she is like me and takes ages to update and hasn't abandoned it. For those of you wanting Immortal Vice, it might be a couple hundred words or so longer than usual since I am finishing up some scenes I skipped. Go give that series a view if you haven't and leave good feedback here please. (sorry about my long A/Ns it's a habit)**

 **-Priestess**


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